1 App Store Review Managing Hack

Today we are not going to discuss review prompts. Instead, we’ll talk about how to manage the reviews that are already published. Apparently, with the right approach you can even turn negative reviews to your advantage.

Tracking reviews

You can’t properly manage your reviews unless you track them properly. Try using Appfigures for this. Here you can filter the reviews by country, app, reviewer, number of stars and other criteria. It is connected to your itunesconnect page and you can track up to 5 apps free of charge.

Negative reviews don’t mean the end of the world.

In case it’s a bug that you can fix with a new version, the update will clear the previous reviews and you can start building up positive reviews from scratch.

And, in case, the bug is caused by a problem with the server or the user wrote a negative review because he or she couldn’t find a feature which is actually in the app, there are some smart ways to reach out to these users.

Find reviewers on twitter and twit them the required information

Unlike Google Play Market, Apple Play Store doesn’t provide an opportunity to reply to users. But the good thing is many people use their Twitter or Instagram names as their iTunes App Store nicknames. This way you can contact them and tell them when you’ll fix the bug or how to use your app more efficiently.

Example

There was a problem on our server which led to several negative reviews in the App Store.

So we fixed the bug, I found the user on Twitter to let her know about it.

She came back and wrote a nice review.

The advantages of this strategy are multifold:

1) The user gets a solution to their problem.

2) He or she gets to know the developer in person which increases their product loyalty (later they will be more likely buy in-apps from you, for example).

3) And last but not least they may update their review and give you 5 stars.

Unfortunately, many users have their App Store nicknames different from their Twitter names. In this case, you need to look for alternative ways to reach your users. For example, after you fix the bug or publish a tutorial explaining some aspect of your app that many users don’t understand, send them a push notification.

Don’t leave the negative reviews unattended. Proper support and good communication with users will set you apart from your competitors and increase your chances for success.

Want to get more actionable tips? Keep coming back to our blog. Or! Sign up for our soon coming, absolutely free and very promising user engagement service for app publishers – AppDK.